Hanging with Jay Pt 1

The alarm rang far too early. I left the house shortly after 5 and drove to get Jay who was waiting for me sleeping on the couch. I did not have to do any coaxing today....he was excited. We were going crabbing. This all started last spring when we were visiting the coast and stepped out on the pier just south of Newport. "Papa, can we go crabbing?", he begged, "Please!". I promised him right then and there that we would before the summer was over. Since he was going back to school the next day, today was the end of summer.

Jay dropped off to sleep in the car seconds after settling in his seat. As I drove down the road in the dark, I looked over at his sleeping figure. He has grown so much in the last year that I almost can't call him 'my little buddy' anymore.

After passing through Sisters, I ran into the smoke from the large fires on the Santiam. I changed the air in the car to internal to help block out the smoke hoping that it would not cause him problems with his asthma. But the darkness and the smoke began to cause me problems. My anxiety issues were beginning to kick in.

I struggled and attempted to overcome them using the relaxation methods that the doctor was getting me to practice just for this type of an event but found that they methods only seem to enhance the issues. I broke into a cold sweat as the voice inside my head told me to run.

I looked over at the young sleeping body next to me. I knew he would be disappointed if he woke up and we were heading back home. He had no idea the battle that was going on inside of me nor how could he? The two sides to the battle became apparent. One was the anxiety that told me that I needed to turn the car around and go back to my 'safe' place and the other was the love for this young man sleeping in the chair within reach of my hand. I reached over and rested my hand on his shoulder feeling the rise and fall of his breath. I loved him so much.....how could I disappoint him.

Sweat poured off of my brow and I began to cramp up as my body started to feel the signs of my struggle. I prayed silently for relief and worried that I would soon become physically sick from the worry that ravaged inside. But, I kept pushing on..figuring that I could always pull over if I was going to get sick.

I began concentrating on things that Jay and I have done in the past and of all of the fun that we have had. The memories began to soften things a bit, kind of bringing my mind into a sort of happy place.

The sun crossing the horizon burst into my rear view mirror bringing my mind into the present. With the waking of the day came the waking of Jay. "Where are we, Papa?", came the voice from the rolled up body next to me. "We are on top of the pass, son.", I returned.

The sun became blocked by the mountain now behind us but the light brought a better perspective of the area around me. It did not close in as it had been and somewhere on that road, the switch inside my head switched off. I don't recall the moment but do remember the feeling......I knew I was going to win this battle and we were going to have a great day.

We passed the time talking of football, fishing, and other 'guy' stuff and I handed him the stack of papers that I had printed off of the internet to teach him what we needed to know about crabbing. You see, I had never done it either and had no idea what I was getting into. I only knew that he wanted to do it and that I had promised to take him. The two crab traps that Ron, one of our employees, had loaned me were in the back along with gloves, a bucket, and some zip ties that Ron had told me to bring with me.

As the sun rose into the sky, so did our moods as we came closer and closer to one of our mutual favorite places, the Oregon coast. The first glimpse of the waves on the beach always lifts your spirits and as we drove through Lincoln City, the fog bank just off of the coast played with the air around us as we drove in and out of it's cloud that darkened the sun.

I had checked the tide tables the night before and found that we would be arriving at Newport right around high tide. The times of high tide and low tide are called slack tide and I was told that they were the best time for crabbing. I had also looked up and found a small store on the south side of the river to get my license for fishing at. Jay did not need a license just yet.

We stopped at Safeway for some breakfast of bagels and a drink. We picked up some chicken legs for bait at the same time. With the breakfast and a cup of Starbucks 'Salted Carmel Latte', I was ready for the day.

We admired the coast and talked of different times and things that we had experienced along the way between Lincoln City and Newport. After crossing over the bridge, we drove straight to the small store and garnered the piece of paper that gave me permission to go catch some crab.

We each grabbed a trap in one arm and a chair in the other. Jay took his chair out of the bag. 'It will be easier to carry if you leave it in the bag and drape the handle over your shoulder.', I instructed but the growing young man had other ideas. "I will be OK, Papa.", he stated. I don't argue in these cases but do use them later when I am trying to get my point across. We had only gotten part of the way down the pier when he gave up and left his trap. "I will go ahead. You stay here, Papa, OK?". He ran down the pier with his chair in one hand and our drink bag in the other. I walked slowly keeping an eye behind me on the left behind parcel. He was soon running back past me to get the trap and we met at the end of the pier....a relaxed grandfather and a now sweaty and heavy breathing but excited grandson. "Do you think that would have been easier if you would have carried that chair over your shoulder in the bag?", I asked. "Probably.", came his shy but smiling answer.

He was so excited as we set ourselves up to cast out our first trap. I let him do all of the work, reaching in and placing the bait inside the inner box and I helped him zip tie up the side of the trap. One problem became immediately apparent as to how I was going to cut the tie when we brought them back up. I also realized that we did not pick up a measure to insure that we had legal catches.

I left Jay on the pier and drove back to the store, getting the small plastic size chart and a pair of wire cutters to cut the zip ties. I arrived back at our spot just in time to raise the first pot. An excited young man had already talked to a couple of other crabbers and informed me that we had our traps on the wrong side of the pier. The tide was beginning to go out and we needed to change sides or chance getting the trap caught on the pier below as the tide drew it under.

Jay started giggling as we the first trap broke through the water below loaded with crabs. Our first catch. I had Jay hold it at the water line as I took a picture of it. He struggled getting it out of the water so I took the line and helped him raise the first basket and lowered it to the pier. The first thing that I noticed was the clicking noises that the captured crabs made.

I cut the zip tie and let Jay check out the captured crabs. We could only keep the crabs that were 5 1/2 inches and that were male. We had studied the pictures and this became pretty easy. Jay drug female after female out of the pot. As he carried one over to the edge, it's claw grabbed his finger through the glove. "Ouch, this hurts, Papa!". He managed to shake it off and it tumbled into the water. "I bet it did", I returned. He had just learned his first lesson on how to carry a crab.

We zip tied the trap and moved it over to the other side of the pier. Jay threw it in as I snapped his picture. Then we hoisted up our second trap. This one too was loaded with the clicking crustaceans and Jay laughed as he realized that we had caught our first legal male crab. After a picture, Jay placed it in the bucket and we reset the trap and cast it out also.

I moved our things over the to the new side of the pier and then noticed Jay. He was sitting in his chair with the bucket in front of him just gazing down at his new prized possession. He had caught his first crab. It was as if he was bonding with it. I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of shots. "Are you going to name it?", I asked. In previous adventures, he had named fish that we had caught so I thought it appropriate to ask. "Nope.....I am going to eat it.", he answered.

With each hoist of the trap, we became more seasoned pros at this sport. "This is the easiest fishing that I have ever done.", he announced.

Around 12:30, we called it a day. I wanted to have the time to get the crabs cooked and iced down for the trip back home. I had intended on getting home by five or six as some of my buddies wanted to get together and play some fun poker.

We drove down to the small crab store that we were told about just south of town. Leaving the bucket next to the crab cooker, we went into the little restaurant behind and enquired on what we needed to do. We found that they would cook the crab for $5 and clean each one for us for 50 cents more. We paid for the service and ordered up some lunch. Funny, neither of us wanted fish and we both ended up ordering up some corn dogs instead. "We have the best fish in town", the server smiled as she must have been laughing inside over these two guys who were crabbing but did not really like crab.

Around 2 or so, we carried our catch out of the store and iced it up for the way home. The lady in the store had been gracious and showed us how to clean our crab for future reference.

A tired but excited grandson talked all the way over the pass but it became evident that I was going to be late for the poker. We stopped in Sisters for a bite to eat at the new Hawaiian shop behind the market that my friend, Stan, who owns the building told me about and then headed the car home arriving around 7.

I dropped a happy young man off with his mom and headed home with one of the crabs for Judy's supper. We had caught three keepers and Jay kept the two larger or his mom and friends.

After arriving home, the day just seem to hit me. I was so exhausted from the day that my stomach was off, so I took a shower and just crawled into bed....totally tired but happy. I had won a battle, enjoyed a day with my grandson who I love so much, and had done something that I had never done before in my life. Sleep took me seconds after my head hit he pillow.

End of Summer?

We held our last big BBQ of the summer along with the High Desert A's in the annual End of Summer Car Cruise.

And it felt like the end of summer. I had been watching the weather reports for a week, hoping that they were wrong but to no avail. This time Bob was right and just the day before, the temperatures dropped. This caused worry throughout the day but all was set and the show must go on.

I arrived at 3PM to find two rigs parked in the main line area. One was an employee but the other must have been from one of the surrounding businesses as when I made a couple of calls, it disappeared. My Model A friends showed up at 4 and we quickly filled up the 16 prime spots with the polished A's.

The guys helped finish off the remaining set up while the ladies stood by and supervised. Then we got them all together and set up two shifts for the BBQ. That way, one could eat while the other worked. As we prepared, many beautiful cars showed up and garnered good spots in the lot. A motor home showed up and took up 5 spots. They were playing cards inside when I asked them to move just outside the lot. The man was gracious and the spots filled up just as fast as he pulled out.
At 5:30, Jimmy rang the dinner bell and the feed began. The band finished their set up and the tunes began to waft out over the line of hungry eaters. Richard had once again put together a great group including two Grammy award winners in Andy Armer and Ken Emerson (Ken is considered by many to be the best steel guitarist in the world).
As I walked around looking for problems to solve, all seem to running smooth and the people sitting down eating seemed happy and quite satisfied. Everything seemed to be going so well. At 6, I looked out over a parking lot crawling with people sitting by their cars eating while others looked over the variety that had shown up. The band was rocking and people were dancing in the lot to the music that they provided. All seemed to be running perfectly....all except the weather.

As the temperature began to drop, so did the customers. Judy and I ate with some friends and when I came back out into the lot, I noticed the line was now sparse and a couple of cars had left. The colder it got, the more people left and so did the cars.

By 7, the lot was looking empty. By 7:15, it looked deserted. By 7:30, the band was playing to an empty house except for a few cars and our Model A's. By 8, we were all packed up including the band.

As we packed things away, I noticed a few cars showed up and we did get some customers inside but the End of Summer car show had officially ended. A tale of two hours...success at 6...failure at 7.

But in that short period of time, we fed 133 hungry customers who enjoyed a great band while walking around some pretty awesome cars. Any restaurateur will tell you, to feed that many in that short of time and have them all happy is an accomplishment of it's own.

Thanks to the High Desert A's for all their hard work, to Jimmy for another delicious BBQ, to Richard for another great musical set, to all of the car guys who brought in their polished autos, and to the many who came and helped us raise money for the automotive scholarship at COCC.

Too Much?

I stopped at the diner last evening to find only a couple of tables in the middle of dinner time. This time of year can find business a bit sparce at times. With nice weather, people are out doing things. And we, ourselves, had just gotten back from a car show in Terrebonne and the air show in Madras.

It brought me to an article that I had just read on how casual diners are struggling right now to keep their share of customers due primarily to the state of the times. People just cannot afford to dine out like they used to. It was an online article and I always read the comments afterward, most of which validated the article. Such things as people remarking that they are eating at home as they just do not have the spendable income that they used to.

I drove away from the diner, processing in my head just how much we were losing that night. We had just about as many crew members as we did customers. I jotted down on a post it note in my head to check and recheck the numbers. The dining business can be a very fine line at times.

As I drove down to a 7-11 store to rent a movie for the night, I began to ponder on all of the up and coming benefit events that take up alot of our time. Are we overcommitting our selves there? After all, the business has to make a profit to survive.

This Wednesday is our End of Summer Car Cruise for the High Desert A's. We turn over the profits that evening as a sort of thank you to the group that has become a sort of family to us. They eat at the diner every Wednesday morning and once a month in the evening. We do so many things with the group also, meeting up with some of them at the Terrebonne car show.

On the heals of that, we recently agreed with the Central Oregon Council on Aging to do a benefit breakfast for Veterans on Sept 11. Now, that one does bug me a bit as I found out last week that they are charging for the event. What was suppose to be a benefit for veterans seems to be one for the organization. I logged down another thought post it to talk to them next week about that. If we are providing a meal free of charge, then at least veterans should be free.

The very next day, on Sept 12, we are doing another meal for veterans at Vince Genna stadium. This is a end of summer BBQ for the Band of Brothers. This one seems to have it's stresses of it's own in that we are not sure and will not have a final count until a few days before causing Jim to worry a bit about the processing of the food. If the numbers are high, it will tax him a bit especially with the breakfast just the day before.

On the heals of that, will be the annual Holdem for Habitat World Series event. Our weekly tourney culminates in the first week of October with a two day event. The winner of the second day gets a trip to the Oregon coast complete with a Marine Discovery tour in Newport. By my figures which are not as accurate as they used to be has us at raising over $28,000 with these weekly fun poker tournies. Besides providing the facility and part of the cost of the large prize, we also give away two meals a week to this event. I quickly process that $20 per week times 52 weeks and come up with giving away over $1000 per year.

Then there is the main event of the year, Thanksgiving. We are working with the Central Oregon Council on Aging to take this one to the next level. Actually taking over the Senior Center for the day and turning it in to a sort of mini resort for Seniors who don't have family close by for the day. If it all goes well, seniors will be able to just come in and hang out with volunteers, having their meals at prescribed times and being entertained by local artists. Meals on Wheels would take on the deliveries thus helping keep them nice and hot for the more shut in seniors.

As I drove into the parking lot and parked in front of the redbox machine, I beguin to ponder and fret a bit about it all. How much is too much? Are we overdoing this especially since I had just drove away from an empty diner. Should I be concentrating more on the profit side as after all, without it there would be no events.

And then the dark thoughts began to grip and scratch at my mind. "Just who cares?", I thought to myself. After all, if the diner does not survive and becomes a thing of the past as so many other businesses do, who will remember us? The little devil sitting on my shoulder said, "No one will remember you when you are gone.".

As I got out of my car, a man walking out of the store came over. "I know who you are and what you do.", he said, "Thank you for all that you do for the local veteran's.".

As I waited for the lady and her son who were picking out their movie, I had my head down a bit, processing what the man had just said. Deep in thought, a hand rested on my right shoulder and I looked over to see a young lady smiling at me. "Thank you for all that you do for Habitat for Humanity", she said, "Because of you and people like you, I will be getting my own house next month.".

As I picked out my movie and made my transaction, a warm feeling flushed over my body. And I said my own little thank you. "Thank you, Lord, for reminding me why.".

Miltenberger

I thought that I would collect my thoughts as I drove the short distance between Bend and Lapine on Saturday. I was heading first to the Day reunion and then to help out at David Miltenberger's service.

When we swung by Carrie's house, Jay jumped into my car. We had been together at a car show on Friday night and he had his matchbox Cobra with him. So, for a while, we discussed the Cobra and who built it and how fast it was. We talked of how the one on Friday had special seat belts. "Just like the ones they had on the go carts.", he stated.

As we drove by the road to Paulina, he said, "Hey, lets forget about this reunion and go fishing, Papa!". He began to rattle off all of the fish that you could catch there. His latest obsession, Jay can pretty much tell you every fish and where to catch them and what to use for bait. I hope he keeps this sponge mind. I told him that he should use that same trick to better his grades in school. "Fishing isn't like math, Papa.", he explained.

We enjoyed the reunion, seeing relatives that we don't see that often and walking around looking at the various charts that Sherry had worked so hard on and put up. Jay found that he was listed as just 'Smith' so we corrected that for them. We sat at the table with his 'Uncle Gene', joking and laughing while we waited to eat. When the time came to eat, I only had a few minutes before I needed to leave for the service. I downed my food like a restaurant manager needing to get on to his job, jumped in my car and headed to the cemetery.

I met up with Kathy, David's sister there and we went over the service and what they wanted me to recite. After we talked, the man from the funeral home brought some more chairs and turned on the CD player that played 'Home on the Range'. This special song was written by David's great grandfather, originally as a Hymn.

Kathy and I had gone to school together and shortly another classmate, Don Fredrickson, showed up. Don is a manager at the Ford company in Salem. We stood and talked about the obvious, cars. Soon, David's family showed up. I watched as they all made their way to the small covered area. His wife, Faith, was off to the side, talking with one of her nieces that I knew.

I walked over and said 'Hi' to both of them. Faith seemed excited to meet me telling me that David had spoke of my family so highly. I told her that Marvin would be there and as I spoke, he drove up. As Marvin walked towards us, I introduced them and Faith's eyes lite up. She began to cry as she thanked him for all that he had been for her departed husband. Marvin explained how special David had been to him in those high school years.

I could see that she wanted some alone time with him so I talked with the niece and we walked back to the larger group. I watched as Faith took him by the arm and showed him the grave stone.

I stood to the side and went over the reading one more time. Then, Kathy called everyone over to the service. I watched as the children took places. The girls, Rebecca, Ruth, Rachel, and Charity, seemed to pair up, with two standing up to the side, while the other two sat at the end of the first row. The older boy, Joel, sat between his youngest siblings, Jonathan and Joshua, leaving a spot for his mother between him and the youngest. The middle son, Josiah, stood in the back. "That was were David would have stood.", I thought. I watched Joel as he worked to pick up the spirits of the two younger Miltenbergers. He got Josiah to grin but although Jonathan's spirits seem to lift from the attention of his big brother, his smile remained hidden.

The service was simple, as David would have wanted, with a prayer and then the reading of the obituary and short paragraph from the family. Then we listened and sang 'Home on the Range'. I then began the sharing time which ended up with some of the kids sharing and then Faith. Faith spoke of the great thought that David and her had put into each of the children's names. She showed how each one of them was special and how their names created an even closer bond. I smiled and thought of how it showed the character of David as he was always one who put much thought into things before he did or said something. We all laughed as Rebecca revealed how she helped give Jonathan his middle name. It seems that she had a crush on a boy named Jonathan at the time and his last name became her brothers middle when she made the sneaky suggestion.

We then sang a song that had meant much to David called 'You lift me up'. I listened as the kids, especially the elders sang the song with such meaning. I finished off with a prayer and the group dispensed to head to the grange hall.

I went over to the grange hall and talked for a while before saying my goodbyes. As I walked to the car, the family drove up. I stopped and watched them spill out of their cars. After the service, I had listened to Faith talk to my mom and as my mom spoke of the night that David had accepted the Lord. She talked of his happiness that night saying that he was almost giddy. It brought back memories that I had forgotten about as I remembered that night myself and how incredibly happy he had been. I was thinking of that as I stared at the family as they walked to the hall. Such an incredible group and outstanding legacy for this man and his wife. All different but all having the same touch placed upon them. I wondered who had the greater influence, David or Faith.

I stood and talked with Faith for a while before I said my goodbyes and headed home. I pondered on the different things that his children had said about their father and one theme stood out in my mind. He trusted them. It is something so simple and yet equally hard to do for a parent of a teen.

Sunday morning as I sat at the counter, one of the waitresses asked me of how my day had gone on Saturday. I began to share with her and others around me of how taken that I was of this incredible (I have tried not to use that word too much but it seems to be the theme for them.) family had affected me.

Tony stopped and said, "Hey, why don't you create a new burger. With lots of cheese. You could call it the 'Melting Burger'.....get it....Melting Burger....Miltenberger?".

"I get it, Tone, thanks."

Friends and Family

I find myself without much sleep tonight. The coming day is a big one. It will start off with work, then I am heading down to Lapine. First, I will be going to a family reunion. The Day family. My father grew up on the Day ranch that still stands out on Day Road. I believe I have spoken of that before.

Then, I will be speaking at David Miltenberger's service. I agreed to do this when the man who they had expected to speak was not available. It is that which occupies my mind tonight as I want to do it right by his family. I am not worried of what to say per se but more how I am to say it. Especially in the pronunciation of names. I have been to other services where the person speaking has messed up the names and it almost seems disrespectful in a way. Like the night before Phil's service earlier this year, my head is filled with thoughts of David tonight. It would almost be easier as was the case in Gene's where I found out minutes before the service and did not have time to hash out things in my mind.

At the same time as the service, the Bend South Little Leaguers will be battling for the Northwest title against Montana. I am so grateful for the DVR and I will keep the radio off on my way home so that I can experience their fight just as it was live and with no commercials. It was fun watching them play Washington the other night. Jay was not able to watch that game as he was out with is youth group so we watched the highlights on the computer. He said it felt weird to see his friends and their families on ESPN.

Now, while thoughts of the full day waft through my head, my nose distracts me as I sit next to the open window of my room. Every night around this time, a wild animal roams close to the house probably foraging for food. By the rank smell, I would say it is either skunk or raccoon. I have looked around for it before but it keeps itself hidden pretty well. It just cannot hide it's smell.

Jay and I drove Judy's car down to the show at Erickson's last evening. I went up and signed in and as I turned around, I met up with a familiar face but behind sunglasses. He smiled and said, "You don't recognise me, do you?". As he took off his hat, I realized who he was by his distinguished head as he spoke the words, "Les Stiles". We talked but the speakers were in our ears drowning out the conversation. I did catch that he was there in his 1964 1/2 Mustang, however, so we walked over to take a look at it. It was truly a beauty and I could tell that Les was very proud of it. It had been well cared for and I told him that he should enter it in the show. He smiled and said that it was dirty. I laughed as it was much cleaner and brighter than many of the cars around it.

We stood and talked around his Mustang and he talked of possibly joining a club of some sort in his retirement, but was not sure what do join. I suggested he consider checking out the Band of Brothers which got us talking of our time in the service. Les shared with me of how he had started out enlisted and then went to OCS and finished as an officer. I told him that something similar had happened to me but when I was asked to go to OCS, I was already married to Judy. I remember well telling the Captain that I would rather be married to her than to the Navy. Les smiled and said, "You made the right decision. If not for that, you may have not known this fine young man next to you (referring to Jay).". That drew my mind in all sorts of twists. Would I have been there speaking to him? Would I even be living in Bend? It is funny how decision such as that can alter ones future.

The show was fun and I ran into quite a few old friends that I had not seen in a while. I stood talking to two of them, Art and Celia Sanchez, as the various awards were being passed out. Art was one of my instructors in college and ended up being a close friend. We even collaborated on a computer program way back then when I did such stuff. He now works for a large company as a computer analyst. We laughed and talked of how things change along the way. We left promising to get together in the future.

The smell is fading which tells me that my friend outside has probably moved on to the next house in his nightly foraging. My head is still filled with thoughts of yesterdays and more of tomorrows. What decision or event today may change the very course of tomorrow. I guess that it just a part of the excitement of the ride we call 'Life'.

The Brothers

We had a great meeting today. It started off with two of the Bend South Little League team that just won the state tourney last Saturday. The vets were excited to meet the young guys and gave them a rousing welcome. One of the guys grabbed a hat and started collecting money to help them get to their next tourney. The guys were generous and raised nearly $250 with a quick pass of the hat.

I then asked the boys if they would like to meet Dan Fouts. Dan was there with his Great Uncle who is a regular member. Judy was standing with the mothers who started to cry when they saw the outpouring of the veterans who wanted to help. As I was introducing them to Dan, Judy informed them on who he was and they began to cry even more. Dan was great and engaged the two young guys in conversation.

Next on the agenda was the National Guard. I was called last week by Major Wulf who said that a few of them would like to join us for today's meeting. They too were given a rousing welcome by the appreciative vets who enjoyed having them join them. Afterwards, the guard members asked me if I could get Dan to take a picture with them. Dan graciously agreed and while Zin moved on with the program, I got the Guard members together for their picture.

I then realized the Colonel Brock was reading the letter from his son in Afghanistan. He had told me earlier that his son had written a page and a half letter in appreciation of the help that the brothers had given him and his comrades. I listened as a proud father read the letter from the Captain son that he so much pride for.

With all this happening, the meeting had a special feel to it. The smiles were brighter and the jokes were louder. Dr. Carnahan joined us for the day and I introduced him to the ones who had not met him. The Dr was one of the men who helped get the VA clinic started here in Bend and is held in high esteem in the veteran community.

We also talked of Bob Maxwell leaving tomorrow for France where he is to walk where he fought in WW2 including his first time back to the spot where his courageous actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The retired British officer, David, showed up and I was able to give him the last of the Battle of Briton coins that were given me. I was excited when he informed me that his father had fought in the battle. This gave this award an even better meaning. I know now that the coins have gone to the right people.

After the meeting, Zin, Ray, and I got together to discuss our getting a 501C coverage for the group. Someone informed us that we needed to get this because we were doing so many things to assist people. We agreed to match the $250 raised by the veterans at the meeting.

Add in the $100 raised in the evening by the poker players and we have raised $850 to help these young players and their families on their trip to the regionals this week. A truely profitable day in far more ways than one.

An Answer....or A Rant

Whether Dem or Rep, the answer to our dilemma is that we must work to become more solvent. That means we must either raise more money or cut our expenditures. That seems to be the focus of the two sides.

Now, can we look at this logically. There seems to be tons (and I should capitalize TONS) of excess spending in our present budget that we can start weeding out. The problem there is that those heavy amounts of money seem to be protected by special interests who in turn provide the excess money that allows the politician to get his needed votes.

I would plead with those same politicians to do the right thing. That means you might not be in power very long. But, you will be able to lay your head down on the pillow at the end of the day and say 'Well Done'. You might even find that your constituents may be so happy with you that they will vote you back anyway. That is if the media gives you your just due (and that might be a stretch).

Please, stay away from Social Security and Medicare. Stop borrowing from those funds and put in place an avenue to begin returning the money that has been borrowed in the past. THESE ARE NOT PARTS OF YOUR BUDGET OTHER THAN DEBTS THAT YOU OWE!

Now to raising taxes. Raising taxes in a recession? Considering a person or persons who make over $250,000 rich is scary. I think that level should be raised much higher. There is a reason for my thoughts. As a small businessman, I don't get close to that amount, but if inflation begins to raise it's ugly head and with the present situation, that is not out of reason, it will affect me as it affects others. That means in order for us to survive with our businesses, we will have to trim down even more which means less employees and more unemployment. Can you see where all that will go?

Now, I don't have an answer to how to judge that amount, but it seems to me that there might be a way to factor in inflation into it. That would certainly make it more viable but does not answer another question. Where is the incentive? There are persons out there who wish to make their later lives more comfortable so they bust their butts during their lives to make what they feel is the needed nest egg.

I agree that there are people who need help. I also agree that the only people that they can truly count on to give them that help is not the rich and not the poor. The rich will just find more ways to protect their riches and the poor don't have anything to give. That leaves it up to the rest of us.

But, is giving your purse strings to the government what you really want to do? After all, is there a program (EVER) that they have truly made profitable?

I don't have all of the answers but this I know, they (the people in our political system) don't seem to have any. It seems to me that what I learned in economics in college is unfolding right in front of my eyes. It was a statement made by (I believe) a communist. He said that democracy will work until the people vote in the persons who will give them the most.

Do the right thing, Washington. Make the hard decisions and start running this country like a good business. Make our future sustainable. Please.